The idea that men have any part at all to play in problems during pregnancy is a relatively recent one. It wasn’t until the Renaissance, for example, that medical authors even began to agree that defective sperm might be a cause of infertility, with women instead being diagnosed with insane-sounding conditions such as “wandering womb,”
But it takes two to tango, as they say, and beyond issues around fertility, new research stresses that men and more importantly, their sperm are perhaps equally to blame for the tragedy of miscarriages.
It’s important to understand, however, that this research is only the tip of the jizzy iceberg. If it is confirmed in further work that high levels of reactive oxygen species in semen increase the risk of miscarriage, we could try to develop treatments that lower these levels and increase the chance of a healthy pregnancy.
It has taken medicine a long time to realize sperm health has a role to play in miscarriage and that the cause doesn’t lie solely with women.
